THE VFA PIONEER HISTORIES PROJECT
Kate Swift
December 9, 1923 – May 7, 2011
“Far from being a lunatic-fringe issue of the women’s movement, language is central to the struggle of any group against oppression and discrimination.” June, 1978
Academic, author, editor. Casey Miller and Kate Swift were pioneers exploring and exposing the ways standard English reflects and reinforces oppression of women. Their articles include “Desexing the Language,” published in New York Magazine, December 20, 1971 and “One Small Step for Genkind,” published in The New York Times Magazine, April 16, 1972. Member of national NOW in the early 1970s and area chapters in Connecticut in the 1970s and 1980s. Helped edit the CT NOW newsletter, The Waterfall, in the 1980s. Member of the Women’s Institute for Freedom of the Press in Washington, D.C. Marched for the ERA and reproductive freedom. Lobbied for repeal of abortion restrictions in Connecticut before Roe v. Wade and joined litigants in the lawsuit Women v. Connecticut in 1972.
Photo. Swift (left) and Miller in 1970 on the steps of their summer cottage on Georgetown Island, Maine (courtesy of Swift Family).
More About Kate:
- Obituary, The New York Times
- Rewriting the Norm: How Two East Haddam Women Revolutionized Nonsexist Language, by Alex Gerrish, ConnecticutHistory.org, August 2022.
- “She ‘Desexed’ Our Language: Remembering Kate Swift, 1923-2011,” by Corin Swift, Ms. Magazine, July 2011.
- Kate Swift, Feminist Wordsmith, by Rosalie Maggio, Women’s Media Center, May 13, 2011.
- Casey Miller and Kate Swift: Women Who Dared To Disturb the Lexicon, An Interview by Elizabeth Isele, 1994.
- Veteran Feminists of America
- Casey Miller and Kate Swift papers , 1919-2000, University of Oregon Libraries, Special Collections and University Archives
- Wikipedia
- Cited in Barbara Love’s book, Feminists Who Changed America 1963-1975, pages 453-454